Amarcord Strikes a Cord

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Vintage Criterion entry to Blu-ray.

By David McCutcheon

One of the very first Criterion Collection releases (with a spine number of four) is finally headed to Blu-ray in February as a part of the hailed studio's catalogue releases for the month. Amarcord -- an Academy Award-winning Italian opus, painting the country and its era with a bright, surreal brush -- is finally coming to high-definition.

You can expect this insane genre-bender to arrive on Blu-ray come February 8, 2011. The acclaimed film takes place in Italy during the Fascist period, as Federico Fellini's most personal film satirizes his youth and turns daily life into a circus of social rituals and male fantasies.

As always with every Criterion Collection releases, and certainly the upgraded high-definition entries, you can anticipate a staggering wealth of bonus materials and special features for the Criterion price of $39.95.

The Amarcord HD release will feature the following bonus materials:

All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer

Audio commentary by film scholars Peter Brunette and Frank Burke

American release trailer

Deleted scene

Optional English-dubbed soundtrack

New and improved English subtitle translation

New 45-minute documentary, Fellini's Homecoming, on the complicated relationship between the celebrated director, his hometown, and his past

Video interview with star Magali Noël

Fellini's drawings of characters in the film

"Felliniana," a presentation of ephemera devoted to Amarcord from the collection of Don Young

Audio interviews with Fellini, his friends, and family by Gideon Bachmann

New restoration demonstration

A book featuring a new essay by scholar Sam Rohdie, author of Fellini Lexicon, and the full text of Fellini's 1967 essay, "My Rimini"

Check out the box art below:

Stay tuned to IGN Blu-ray for more information about this and other upcoming releases!